I'll Be Your Man
by mysticrox123
Summary: What caused Lily Evans to finally give in to James Potter? Well, it all began with a slap round the face, Valetine's Day and a beautiful red tulip...


**Disclaimer: Everything to do with Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Torey and Alix are mine. And all the songs belong to their respective owners, James Blunt, Taylor Swift and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.**

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"Potter!" Lily Evans, the girl of my dreams, came stalking into the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Ah, Lily, it's a pleasure to see you, as always. What can I do for you? And I mean that: what can I do for you?" Sirius, who was sitting on the sofa next to me, smirked.

"What the hell is this?" Lily said, thrusting a note into my hands that I had magically sent up to her room earlier in the day.

"Why, I do believe that it is a note. But, what does it have to do with me? Oh, I know: you need some help reading it. Okay, here goes."

"Potter don't you dare!" Lily was fuming, but we had gathered up quite a crowd, and I was having way too much fun to stop now.

"My Dearest Lily" I read. "Your eyes are like sparkling emeralds that stand out even amongst the most expensive diamonds. Your hair is like the Sahara desert, red hot and burning, but alluring at the same time. Your skin is a pale as the winter snow, and as smooth as the ice. Be mine, Lily, you know you want to. Forever Yours, J. P.S Will you go out with me?" Laughter erupted throughout the room, as I stood up and gave a mocking little bow.

"So, Lily: now that you know what it says, I really would like to know what it has to do with me".

"You sent it!" she exclaimed, her fury making her lovely pale face flush a beautiful scarlet colour to match her cheeks.

"Did I? Let me just check the handwriting…oh yes, well, you appear to be right. So, do you want to go out with me, then?" I didn't usually talk to Lily like this, but I was on a bit of a high.

"No, I don't. Stay away from me you arrogant, conceited toe-rag!" Lily screamed, as she slapped me round the face. I held my hand to my throbbing cheek, as she flounced off, her two best friends in tow. With a glare from Sirius, the rest of the Gryffindors quickly departed as well.

"You really need to get some better insults, Lily-Flower; we're getting bored of the same old, same old." Sirius yelled after her. Once she was out of sight, he turned to me.

"Bloody hell! That's the third time this week she's slapped me" I said. "She isn't usually this mad."

"Yeah well, encase you haven't noticed, Prongs, its Valentine's Day tomorrow. Our lovely Lily is probably panicking about what you are going to do. Remember last year?" Of course I did. I wanted to really impress her last year, so I set up a treasure trail of red and green glitter around the castle. There were loads of little presents along the way, such as her favourite raspberry shampoo, or minute boxes of chocolate frogs. When she finally came to the end of the trail, she burst through the doors of the Great Hall to find the ceiling enchanted so that it showed off a magnificent fireworks display. The piece de resistance was that after the fireworks finished the names James and Lily came up in sparkly green writing, with a red heart around them. I had chosen that moment to step out of the shadows, and when I did, Lily took one look at me, threw the presents at my feet, sent a hex at me and ran off.

It wasn't my finest hour.

"Yes, Padfoot, I do remember what happened last time. But I have a plan, and I think that it really will work this time." I heard Sirius laugh.

"I'm all ears" he said, grinning like a maniac. "Do enlighten me about your plan".

"I will" I promised. "But first, I need Remus and Peter so that we can tell them." Just as I had finished talking, the other two Marauders walked through the portrait hole.

"I heard my name." Remus said, as he and Peter took a seat on the sofa opposite us.

"Yes, yes you did. So lads, here's what we are going to do."

The next day came quickly, and the Gryffindor Common Room was filled with several kissing couples, and a few shy little first years, who were swapping cards.

"It just brings a tear to my eye" Sirius said sarcastically, as Alice Prewett squealed when Frank Longbottom handed her a huge bunch of red and white roses and silver envelope, which probably contained a card. I laughed. Sirius was notorious for never settling down with one girl, so Valentine's Day was pointless for someone like him. Still, that didn't mean that he didn't receive his fair share of cards and presents.

"So, Padfoot, how many cards have you got from your admirers?" Peter asked jokingly, as we all made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Twenty cards, six boxes of chocolates, three disgustingly cute stuffed animals and one helium balloon with the words "Be Mine" on it. All in all, quite a good hall." Sirius smirked proudly. "What about you, Wormy?"

"I got one" Peter said, attempting to sound casual, but I think we all knew that he was happier about it than he let on. I was happy for him, because it was his first ever Valentine's card.

"I got five" Remus said, somewhat absentmindedly, as he poured chocolate milk over his already chocolaty Coco Pops.

"Really?" I said. I don't know why I sounded so surprised, considering Remus was generally good looking, and always had a few of the more intelligent girls swooning over him.

"Yes, James, really. And I even know who they are from, because the handwriting is extremely obvious."

"Oh, do tell" Sirius said noisily, through a mouthful of bacon and toast.

"No, it's none of your business." Remus snapped. But then he blushed a little, and looked over to where Taylor Shine, a fellow Gryffindor, and a pretty brunette girl with blue eyes, was sitting. She caught his eye, and smiled coyly. He gave a small wave back. I made a mental note to question him about her later.

"I was just asking" Sirius pouted, swallowing the rest of his bacon toastie whole. "So then, James: how many did you get?"

"I got fifteen" I replied. "But I haven't opened any of them, for my heart belongs to Lily." Sirius and Peter snickered. Remus, who was sitting beside me, and I looked at them with confusion. Sirius seemed to be trying to mouth something to me, but I couldn't quite understand what he was saying. Suddenly, a cold but beautiful voice spoke from behind me.

"That must be unfortunate for you Potter. Luckily, I'm going to give it back to you, because I have no need for it." I flinched, and turned around to find myself face to face with Lily Evans. Looking, I might have to say, more gorgeous than ever.

"Oh, hello. Good morning to you too, Lily. Happy Valentine's Day, my darling" I said dramatically, as I plucked a single red tulip, her favourite flower, from its hiding place under the table and handed it to her. I expected her to shove it back in my face, but surprisingly, she held it gently in both hands and stroked its soft petals.

"Is this it?" she asked. She probably meant to sound harsh and mocking, but instead, she actually sounded quite upset. I almost crumbled on the spot, but using every inch of self restraint in my body, I managed to stick to my plan.

"Yes, that is it. I thought that I would go for the minimalist idea. You know, the red tulip represents ever lasting love, so it's kinda symbolic as well. Anyway, do you like it?" I knew I was pushing my luck a bit, but hey: it was our last year at Hogwarts, and getting hexed out of my life was sort of a Valentine's Day tradition. It was then that Lily said something that totally shocked me.

"I love it, James." She what? As soon as the words escaped her, she clapped a hand over her mouth. She was clearly just as shocked as I was.

"You-you love it? R-really?" I stuttered, not caring if I made a fool out of myself in front of my friends, because I guess that it was nationally known that I was a sucker for love. I also realised that she had just called me James for the first time in seven years!

"I-I yes, I love it. I mean, no I don't – I have to go." She turned and ran from the Great Hall. Her friends, Torey and Alix had been looking on in concern the whole time, but upon noticing her departure, they jumped up from their seats and ran after her. Although my mind was whirling, I still managed to collect my thoughts in time to notice that she had in fact taken the tulip with her. I turned back around to my friends.

"I think" I said slowly," that my plan might be more successful than we first thought."

The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly, but I think it was mainly due to the fact that we had either easy lessons, like Transfiguration and Potions, or lessons that you could muck about it, like Ancient Ruins, or History of Magic. Lily was in all of my classes, but she kept her distance from me, and, as planned, I kept my distance from her. Once lessons were over, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I all made a rare trip to the library, so that we could get out homework done. Sirius and I didn't want to go, but Remus said he would help me out tonight if we didn't. And, although I didn't want to admit it, I defiantly needed Remus' skilled wand work.

I was testing Sirius on some Transfiguration spells, when Lily walked into the library, flanked by Torey and Alix. They walked over to a table nearer the quieter end on the library. As they did, I saw Torey catch Sirius's eye. She winked at him and, although he was initially a bit surprised, Sirius recovered quickly and gave her his most disarming grin. I inwardly sighed. Torey and Sirius had been dancing around each other for two years now. And when the time came for Sirius to settle down, I would bet my life savings that it would be with Torey.

"Lily is staring at you" Sirius said suddenly.

"What?" I said, a bit louder than I had intended. Several people turned to look at me, but turned away when nothing remotely interesting happened. Subtly tilting my head, I glanced over to where Lily was sitting, and sure enough, she was staring straight at me. My hazel eyes connected wither soulful green ones. I know it sounds cheesy, but there was something pulling me. Some sort of unknown force that made me get lost in her eyes. That is, until she looked away, blushing.

"What the hell is up with her?" I asked, not expecting an answer.

"It must be love, love, love." Sirius trilled in my ear.

"No. No, it can't be. She hated me with a passion just yesterday."

"Maybe she had one of those realizations" Remus injected, lifting his eyes from his Potions homework.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes trailing back to Lily, who was still blushing a deep beetroot colour.

"Well, it's like in that muggle book, Pride and Prejudice. There's a girl called Lizzie, who lets her prejudices about a man called Mr. Darcy get in the way of her true feelings for him. Then, suddenly, she just sort of realises that he is the one for her. It's a very good read." Remus replied factually, as he once again bent his head to return to his homework.

"Sounds like a girl's book to me" Sirius sniffed. Peter snickered, but shut up when he received a scowl from Remus.

"It is very popular with the ladies, yes. But that isn't the point that I am trying to convey. What I mean to say is that maybe Lily has just realised that she has in fact loved James for as long as he has loved her. They do say that there is a very fine line between love and hate".

"Oh Remmy: how are you still single?" Sirius batted his eyes at Remus, who came back at him with a sarcastic remark. Peter watched them bickering, but I found myself once again looking over to Lily. Her head was bent over her work, silky red curls falling over the page, and was scribbling away intensely, at a furiously fast pace. Wow, so that was how she got all her wok done so quickly? Remus and Sirius's bickering deteriorated after a while, and we all continued with our studying. Once we were done, however, Remus made me exit the library first, and alone.

"Why?" I asked, admittedly confused.

"Just do it" he said. I gulped. Although Remus was usually easy going, he could be very stubborn when he wanted to be. So, I packed up my work and sauntered out of the library doors, my eyes looking straight ahead, as Remus had advised. Several seconds later, the others came out to join me.

"And what was the point in that?" Peter asked, as we made our way up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"It was just as I thought" Remus mumbled under his breath.

"What's that Moony?" I said.

"She was looking at you when you got up and walked out. I made you go alone because I thought it would be easier to test my theory."

"Which is…?" I prompted, waiting for him to answer.

"That Lily does indeed fancy you, like Sirius suggested."

"And you got that from me walking out of a room?" Instead of an answer, I just received a look. It was the look that Sirius, Peter and I dubbed the "Moony Look". Whenever he gave us that look, it usually meant to shut up. So I did.

"Come on, we have a lot to prepare for tonight." And, with that, the conversation was finished.

Finally, after many laborious hours of work, we managed to prepare the Gryffindor Common Room for eight o'clock. Remus had charmed simple red fairy lights to hand from the ceiling, and he had also created a big chandelier, that was adorned with several long green candles. Sirius had bribed the rest of the Gryffindors to stay out of the Common Room for the evening. Which, to be honest, wasn't very hard, considering that it was the one night where everyone seemed to prefer…um, staying in bed, as it where.

He had also had a few words with Torey and Alix, and they agreed that they would bring Lily up for half eight. They didn't really know what we had planned, but they weren't too worried, considering that they conveniently thought Lily and I were just meant to be. And finally, Peter had arranged a small candle lit dinner for us. He had charmed the wine glasses into magically filling up with fire whiskey so that they never got empty. I knew this was a risky move, but I figured that if Lily and I actually got round to eating, then we would already hopefully be on good terms. All I had to do was change into some more respectable clothes, as Torey and Alix sai they would sort Lily out and tune my guitar, then leave it out of sight.

Yes, I had a guitar. I had taken Muggle Studies for all of my seven years at Hogwarts because I wanted to understand more about the world where Lily came from. One day we were doin a lesson on musical instruments and out teacher actually got us a guitar to look at. I was immediately fascinated. So fascinated, in fact, that the teacher, who actually played the guitar, let me keep it, and even offered to show me a few chords. That was two years ago. Now, after two years of practise, I was able to play even the more complicated tunes. Tonight, however, I was going to play Lily's favourite song for her, and attempt to sing along.

Once quarter past eight came, Remus, Peter and Sirius made themselves scare. Although, Sirius held back a little.

"I really do hope things work out for you, Prongs" he said, and then hugged me. When he released me, he grinned.

"So do I, Pads."After patting me on the back, he swaggered off, and I took a seat on the sofa. I glanced at the clock on the wall. It read twenty five past eight. Nerves were beginning to get the better of me as the seconds trickled past slowly. This was an extraordinary feeling, that I, James Potter, was nervous. I never got nervous about things, even things to do wit Lily. Whilst I was pondering this new found emotion, Alix and Torey stumbled through the portrait hole. I jumped out of my seat, only to find that Lily wasn't with them. Clearly noticing my distress, Alix made to reassure me.

"Don't worry James: Lily is outside. We simply told her to wait a few minutes before coming in. To be honest, we were both amazed that she actually did what we asked." I nodded.

"Did she suspect anything?" I asked.

"Well, first we got rid of her jeans and then lengthened her top so that she is now wearing a green mini dress. Then we told her that no matter what happened tonight, she needed to be polite. And then we told her to stand outside the portrait by herself for five minutes. So, no, I don't think she's suspicious at all." Torey said, exasperated.

"Ok, ok. Calm down, will you? Listen, I just wanna say thanks to you both."

"Don't mention it, James." Alix replied sweetly.

"Oh, now I'm all emotional. Hugs, girls!" I squealed, in a rather camp way. Once we all broke apart, they went upstairs, and I resumed my position on the sofa. The seconds slowly crawled past, and I began to grow impatient. Then, just as I was contemplating going out there to get her, Lily stepped gracefully through the portrait hole. I jumped out of my seat yet again. She looked absolutely amazing. Sure enough, the jeans that she had been wearing earlier had disappeared and were replaced with a very, very sexy looking pare of pale white legs. Her royal blue top had been elongated and altered into a strapless mini dress, and pretty silver heels encased her feet.

But her face was the most beautiful thing of all. Smoky shadows billowed around her impossibly green eyes, which had gotten even larger due to the generous amount of eyeliner and mascara. And, if it was possible, her lips had gotten even fuller, and were coated in pearly red lipstick. Her skin remained as ghostly pale as ever, and her ferociously curly hair was pulled back into a low bun. But the most amazing thing of all was that she had the red tulip I gave her tucked behind her ear. I suddenly felt underdressed in my black trousers, shoes, and form-fitting soft grey t-shirt. Nonetheless, it would have to do.

Lily was looking around the room, her emerald eyes trailing over the candles, and the dinner table set up at the other end of the room. But, instead of hexing me, or yelling at me, or slapping me, she was smiling. Smiling like I had never seen her smile before. For the first time ever, I think I had made Lily Evans happy. Wrapping her arms around her, as if cold, she turned to face me.

"This is…beautiful, James: really beautiful." Her voice possessed a warm light that I had never heard her use before.

"Not as beautiful as you." I said truthfully. "Would you like to sit down?" I took her hand, and lead her gently down to the sofas. Once she was seated, I went to retrieve my guitar from its hiding place.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked me quizzically, as I returned, and sat on the sofa opposite her.

"Okay, here goes. Lily, I know you and I haven't exactly gotten on with each other very well these past few years. Part of that is because you hex me whenever I go near you, but the other part is that I can't seem to act mature around you. So I've decided. I am going to ask you out one more time, using a method that I really hope you'll like. But if you don't, then I promise to never bother you again. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds fair" Lily said. It sounded like she wanted to say more, but she kept quiet. So, I began.

"Oh, before I start: feel free to join in, or even change the song. I…um, I know most of your favourite songs." Blushing, I started to play. I started with her favourite song, "I'll Be Your Man" by James Blunt.

"Too many voices  
Too many noises  
Invisible wires keeping us apart  
So many choices  
but they all disappointments  
and they only steal me away from you  
Climb into our private bubble  
let's get into all kinds of trouble

Slide over here let your hands feel the way  
There's no better method to communicate  
girl stop your talking  
Words just get in the way  
I'll be your man

So baby come over  
From the end of the sofa  
I'll be your man  
I'll be your man"

I stopped singing, but kept up a single rhythm on the guitar, because Lily looked like she was going to start singing instead. Sure enough, she joined sang the intro of "Sparks Fly" by Taylor Swift, with the voice of an angel.

"The way you move is like a full on rainstorm  
And I'm a house of cards  
You're the kind of reckless that should send me running  
But I kinda know that I won't get far

And you stood there in front of me  
Just close enough to touch  
Close enough to hope you couldn't see  
What I was thinking of

Drop everything now  
Meet me in the pouring rain  
Kiss me on the sidewalk  
Take away the pain  
'Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile"

Then it was my turn to sing. I sang a song that both of us loved. It was "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Lily joined in, and, although I was a little bit off, we managed to get quite a good duet going. (Normal=James. _Italics_=Lily **Bold**=Both).

"I will never let you fall  
I'll stand up for you forever  
_I'll be there for you through it all_  
_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

**It's ok, it's ok, it's okay**

_Seasons are changing, waves are crashing_  
_And stars are falling all for us_  
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter  
I can show you I'll be the one…"

We both came to a standstill. Clearing my throat, I put my guitar down and went to go and sit next to Lily on her sofa.

"So, this is the last time I am ever going to ask you this, so think wisely. Lily Mae Evans, do you want to go out with me?" I shut my eyes, thinking that if I didn't have to look at her, it would make it easier if she rejected me. When she didn't answer straight away, I opened my eyes to find her face inches from mine.

"Yes, James Anthony Potter, yes I do." And with that, she leaned in, and gave me the perfect, sugar sweet kiss that I had been longing for since I was eleven years old.

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**There you go! Just a little something for Valentine's Day. Hope you have all had a good day :D**

**Reviews would be appreciated, please. Hooe you enjoed reading it! xxx**


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